Back in early 2007, we had a 3 month old baby, had just sold our house and decided to buy a 1956 ranch-style home in Nashville, Tennessee. This home had great bones, but needed a ton of updates and we were up for the challenge. I love the simplicity of ranch-style houses, and Josh and I fell in love with this house (despite all the work it needed).

We completely gutted the kitchen, redid the office into a nursery, built out the basement into a playroom, redid all the floors and updated every square inch of this house with new paint, new light fixtures, tore out walls, and so much more.

I'm pretty sure this house on Rolling Fork taught us the most when it came to renovations. We learned not to be scared of homes that needed work, and we put a ton of sweat equity into this house to make it our home. Josh and I have a thing for older homes that need a little extra love, and we owe that to this house. We learned when to hire a professional and when we could do things on our own. Getting the chance to update this house is why we had such a connection to that house. We literally knew every square inch because we had worked so tirelessly on it!

I wish I had a ton more before pictures, but I didn't document the renovation in this home like I have the other homes we've done.

Before Pictures of our Kitchen

Check out the pictures below, and you'll see why I couldn't wait to get my hands on this kitchen. Between the orange walls, the green and orange tile and the outdated cabinets, I just didn't even want to cook in here.

Demo and Construction in Progress

After Pictures

This little kitchen became the hot spot for our house. We entertained in there, had dance parties with the kids when they were little and threw many a dinner party in there. It was where our babies became toddlers and ate their first meals. We spent many days looking out the windows at all the deer that wandered our yard daily. I will always have a special place in my heart for our first kitchen renovation!

8 days to Christmas-are y’all getting excited like my house is?!
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We have some family Christmas 🎄 traditions that we look forward to each year.
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We love attending the candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve. There’s something magical about singing hymns with just the glow of 🕯 surrounding you. As soon as we leave church, we eat Chinese-just like on #thechristmasstory
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We also decided early on in our marriage not to give each other gifts on Christmas. Honestly, we tend to do so many house projects, we laugh and say our Christmas gifts are usually new flooring, new paint jobs or some other renovation project🤣
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Speaking of gifts, when our kids were born we told Santa 🎅🏻 that he only needed to bring them 3 🎁 each. They think long and hard on what they want their three to be each year✨
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This year, I’m excited to try a new gift exchange with my family. All the adults are bringing one “as seen on TV” gift, and we are playing a game to see who gets each gift!
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Do you have a holiday tradition you look forward to each year? Drop your favorite below👇🏻

I’m dreaming of blue skies and the 🌊 today.
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A few weeks ago, I conquered my fear of being out on a boat in the ocean to go deep-sea fishing 🐠 I also touched a fish for probably the first time in my life😜
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I grew up fishing with my parents on Lake Graham, but I never baited my own hook or touched a fish when I caught one.
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Looking back on this little 6-hour trip we took, if I had said “no” because I was scared, I would have missed seeing sea creatures I’d never seen before. I would have missed watching my daughter bait her own hook! I would have missed one of the best days out on the ocean with my family as we reeled in some pretty amazing fish 🎣 .
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Saying “yes” even when we are scared can allow us to experience moments we otherwise would miss.
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Dale Carnegie said, “If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” Pretty good advice, if you ask me✨ #livethelittlethings #lifeofadventure

These two will leave our venue tonight as Mr. and Mrs.💕
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Happy wedding day to Emily and John✨ 📷: @kristajoyphotography